Friday, March 6, 2015

Possible New Divorce Laws headed to Illinois

Modern family

Lawmakers move to update divorce, child custody law

The patchwork quilt that is Illinois family and divorce law is getting restitched for the first time in nearly 40 years, with potential changes for divorce and child custody cases.

The Illinois Family Law Study Committee, a legislative advisory group created to make recommendations for updating the state's marriage law, is proposing a handful of changes the group has been fine-tuning for seven years. The changes attempt to incorporate modern cultural norms and values surrounding divorce and child custody.

Illinois' law governing marriage and divorce, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, was passed in 1977. Andre Katz, a lawyer in Chicago and chairman of the Family Law Study Committee, said that the new draft of the law addresses the concerns of a wide range of groups.

"There's still people who think it's not perfect," Katz said. "But I think it's much better than what it was when it was written 40 years ago."

Most of the changes deal with the legal processes of getting divorced and sorting out child custody. Senate Bill 57 completely removes the concept of custody, joint or otherwise. Instead, courts would assign different child care responsibilities to each parent. Springfield lawyer Howard Feldman, appointed to the committee by the Illinois Supreme Court, said that assigning responsibility that way avoids creating winners and losers in a process that often leads to conflict.

"If you talk to people that are parents, that are involved in the process, the person that walks out of a contested case that doesn't win feels like less of a parent," Feldman said.

Katz said this problem tends to arise in sole-custody cases, particularly when the two parents can't or won't communicate with one another.

"Regardless of what party is creating the problem, the case law is pretty clear that if there cannot be effective communication, you can't impose joint custody," Katz said. "It just doesn't work."

Feldman said the proposal changes current law to reflect what is already being done in courtrooms across the state.

"We're doing most of this now, but we have silly fights," Feldman said. "We fight over not whether … the child spends Thursday night with the parent; we fight over whether the other person's a joint-custodian."

Feldman said the bill also takes away the part of divorce proceedings requiring a separate hearing in which couples have to prove to a court why they should be granted a divorce.

"It makes it so you don't have to say negative things about the other person to get a divorce," Feldman said.

Katz said that this is more reflective of the current attitudes about marriage and divorce.

"We accept that marriages don't always work out," Katz said. "When a divorce takes place, the focus should be on the needs of the children, rather than placing blame."

The bill would also eliminate so-called "heart-balm" provisions that allow a jilted spouse to sue an ex-spouse for cheating or the ex-spouse's paramour for breaking up the marriage. Feldman said those types of cases are not common in Illinois because to win such a case, it's necessary to demonstrate what was lost – down to a specific dollar amount.

"In 40 years of practicing law, I have not seen one." Feldman said.

Representatives from anti-divorce groups Family-PAC and the Illinois Family Institute testified in opposition to the bill. They said that taking away the requirement to give a reason for a divorce would make getting divorced easier and more prevalent.

The bill passed the Illinois House with bipartisan support in the previous legislative session, but it died in the Senate without a vote. This session, it passed the Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee in February on a party-line vote.

Bloomington Illinois Divorce Attorney -- Jon D. McLaughlin

I grew up in Provo, Utah, but moved to Oklahoma in order to finish my bachelor’s degree in philosophy and ancient greek at Oklahoma State University. I then attended law school at the University of Illinois. While in law school, I was an Associate Editor of a journal published by the university. Also during this time, I worked for law firms in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Indianapolis, Indiana, and for the Honorable Joe McDade (a Federal Judge, sitting in Peoria).

While still in law school, the Illinois Supreme Court allowed me to practice law and represent clients under Rule 711. This allowed me to gain valuable experience, early on, that has served me well in my subsequent practice.

After law school, I moved to Bloomington, Illinois, and have been practicing law here since that time. While I have handled business transactions and litigation in the past, some involving more than $10,000,000, I now limit my practice to family law matters. I handle divorce, custody, child support, visitation, and other matters that require the court’s attention. I have had much success in getting my clients promising results because of my firm and aggressive approach.

I am a Guardian ad Litem, which means that the courts appoint me to investigate child custody, visitation, and other matters. These appointments have helped me become a better advocate for children and to toughen my position in fighting for my clients.

I am a Mediator, approved by the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Illinois, to conduct court-ordered Custody Mediation for parties who are in the midst of custody and/or visitation disputes in the Bloomington-Normal area. In addition to being certified to mediate custody and visitation issues, I am also certified to mediate financial issues in divorce and family law cases in McLean County. These issues include Child Support, Maintenance (Alimony), the assets and debts of the parties, and other matters relating to the financial side of family law cases. I am also a member of the Mediation Council of Illinois. Due to my experience in the area, I am able to advise my clients as to how they can achieve the best results in mediation. In the Eleventh Circuit, mediation is mandatory in visitation and custody disputes. Therefore, it is important to be well-advised when participating in mediation and negotiating a possible resolution to your case.

The majority of my cases are tried in McLean County; however, I also practice in other surrounding counties.